Archive for the ‘Desserts’ Category

I am SO excited about this. There aren’t many doughnut dealers out there that ship (none that I know of that ship their yeast leavened stuff), so when I found Stan’s site after a disappointing doughnut hunt on Florida’s west coast, I was ecstatic.

What’s even better is that I’ve had Stan’s on site in California AND sampled them after toting them back to Florida myself, so I’ll get a good feel for what shipping does to the little rings of glazed happiness. Teehee.

Why a rearranged and super-cute slice of cake is so popular, I don’t know, but what I do know, is that it’s RARE for someone to get the icing right. It’s almost always good, but good and right are two very different things.

The biggest mistake I’ve run across is forgetting who you want your cupcakes to appeal to…and when it comes to the taste of a cupcake, I say there are only two groups…adults, and children. Unfortunately, most that I’ve tried exercise that distinction in the appearance alone, choosing sprinkles and cartoons over gold flake and royal icing or vice versa. This leaves more mature appearing cupcakes giving a very inconsistent taste experience. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen cupcakes decorated with an obviously adult audience in mind, only to be met with a flavor profile that said little more than “Are you ready to play pin the tail on the donkey now?”

Since cake seems to get a decent amount of thought dedicated to it, I’m going to call out icing as the primary culprit. Not to be too harsh, I do understand the difficulty that icing presents. I’ve made a ton of the stuff in my time, mostly the butter cream that’s pretty much mandated for cupcakes, so I know the challenges.

The primary culprit, sugar, isn’t just in the icing to add flavor. It’s a key structural element to any butter cream, aiding in the ability to hold shape and preventing the icing from giving too fatty or greasy a mouth feel. So when I taste an icing that’s little more than Sweet, I have sympathy…but my adult palate is still bored. Why? Because sugar, especially refined sugars like confectioners and casters sugars, have very little aroma. That’s the part of the taste experience where the nose takes over and that gets you beyond sweet-salty-sour-bitter-umami…and that is what sets grownup icing apart from the stuff made for the kiddies. It’s the burnt richness of caramel and earthy ring of molasses. It comes from adding chocolate or lemon juice or the ever so beautiful vanilla bean. When paired properly with the cake base, it can make for a wonderful little treat.

I…am a sucker for food marketing. Throw the word “rich”, “chocolaty”, “creamy” or…anything that hints at seafood, and all those semesters of graduate marketing go out the window. Well, a couple months ago, I stopped by The Earl of Sandwich at a rest stop. Yelp said such wonderful things, that I passed up almost always disappointing Dunkin’ Donuts and overpriced Cheeburger Cheeburger and took a chance.

The Earl makes a nice sandwich, I must say. They’re simple, classic, and made with ingredients that are on par for the price. The menu is short (something I’ve come to admire in an age of menus that read like novelettes), to the point and familiar.

But the brownies. They’re smart to display them bakery style on elevated trays. It keeps them closer to eye level and mirrors higher end dessert presentations. I also give them credit for recognizing something that is truly uncommon in the dessert world…possibly all of food-dom. Brownies are about the only creation out there that most likely will taste better out of a box than homemade. They bake theirs in small tart pans and they taste just as good as anything you make at home. No “brown” instead of chocolate. No egg substitute instead of egg. Very friendly. Very fun.

Taste is the most underrated of the senses, yet weighs so heavily on consumers’ purchasing decisions. A consumer’s impression of taste begins when they first hear a product’s name and continues through opening the package, seeing the product, smelling it, feeling the texture, taste, aftertaste and memories of the product. ... Continue reading →